Caffeine : the everyday essential
Caffeine is a substance that most people can’t live without. Whether you use it to wake up in the morning, to give you an extra push through work or studying, use it for pre-workout, or just enjoy a nice cuppa joe every so often, it’s something almost every adult consumes.
Heck, even if you’re not a coffee-drinker or lifter, you’re still consuming caffeine from somewhere, whether you know it or not. Some sneaky items that contain caffeine are:
- Cocoa powder (anything chocolate-flavoured has a bit of caffeine, even protein supplements)
- Herbal Teas (Green Tea, Five Roses, Earl Grey, Ceylon Blends - pretty much every tea besides Rooibos has caffeine)
- Colas (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Iron Brew - even the zero sugar/light versions have caffeine)
- Kombucha (made from green tea leaves)
- Medications (certain non-drowsy meds have caffeine to help ingredients work faster: Grandpa, Compral, Cold & Flu meds)
It’s anavoidable, caffeine is everywhere.
Does caffeine really make you stronger?
Most lifters or athletes consume caffeine from pre-workout supplements (energy drinks, capsules, gels, pre-workout powders).
It’s undeniable that caffiene is driver for most strong lifters. I know some guys from gym who can’t lift without pre-workout, and I honestly can’t blame them - especially if you need an extra boost to get through your workout at the end of a long day.
But the real question is: Does caffeine actually make you stronger?
Quick answer: Yes. Yes, it does.
This PubMed states that a study concluded that caffeine produced a significant increase in power and strength of upper body muscles, so the benefits of caffeine for performance are undeniable.
The issue with caffeine comes in when gymers abuse it, take it in excess or just completely forget about moderation of consumption.
What could go wrong if you take too much caffeine
| Effect | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Poor Sleep/Difficulty Sleeping | If you train in the evening and take pre-workout/caffeine, the stimulating effects can take a while to wear off and leave your system, making it harder to fall asleep or have poorer sleep quality |
| Jitters & Anxiety | Caffeine causes your heart rate to elevate and blood pressure to rise. The stimulation combined with taking too much can trick your brain into thinking you’re in a panic, causing jitters, shaking, heart palpitations, msucle spasms and even anxiety. This could negatively affect your performance - this defeats the whole point of taking caffeine |
| Digestive issues: Nausea/diarrhoea/heartburn/cramps | Caffeine triggers muscle contractions in your colon and increases the release of digestion-boosting hormones. Taking too much can overstimulate your stomach lining and cause you to experience any of these symptoms - ultimately causing you to stop your workout. |
| Dehydration | Caffeine acts as a diuretic (it makes you pee). So taking too much can cause too much fluid to leave your body in the form of urine, leading to hydration |
| Headaches/Migraines | Caffeine causes your brain to work in overtime. Once its effect wears off, the brain crashes and this crash causes (often times) severe headaches. |
Knowing the right amount of caffeine for you
The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recommends that you have no more than 5mg of caffeine per kg of bodyweight.
That averages to around 400mg for the average person if you don’t want to do the math.
But for example, I weigh 80kg, so my daily caffeine intake should not go over:
80kg x 5mg = 400mg exactly
That being said, if you’re heavier or lighter than me, you should calculate your daily caffeine allowance so you can at least ballpark the caffeine you’re consuming every day, as you consume it.
Know the caffeine content of what you’re consuming
To help you monitor your caffeine intake, I’ve done some research on the estimated amount of caffeine of common caffeine sources.
Keep in mind, however, that caffeine content in your coffees/teas can vary slightly or greatly depending on the roast, the bean,tea leaf, the source of the bean/leaves or the exact grammage of the coffee, so these are just estimates (still better than not knowing at all).
| Source | Caffeine content per serving(mg) |
|---|---|
| Ricoffee | 6 - 7mg |
| Jacob’s Kroning | 30 - 60mg |
| Nescafe Classic | 50 - 90mg |
| Nescafe Gold | 60 - 70mg |
| Woolworths Instant | 60 - 65mg |
| Ceylon Blend Teas (Five Roses) | 40 - 55mg |
| Green Teas | 30 - 50mg |
| Matcha (250ml) | 70 - 80mg |
| Red Bull | 80mg |
| Monster and Switch | 160mg |
| Caffeine capsules | 100 - 200 mg |
| Energy Shot Mini Bottles | 150 - 250 mg |
| Pre-Workout (Standard Formulas) | 150 - 200mg |
| Pre-Workout (High-Stim Formulas) | 300 - 400 mg |
If you saw the list and were shocked by Ricoffee being so low in caffeine, you aren’t alone lol.
It turns that Ricoffe is mostly made up of something called ‘chicory’, coffee hardly makes it up. So it could count as a cheaper, lower-caffeine alternative to those still looking for the taste of coffee.
Like I said, apart from supplements and energy drinks, caffeine content can vary greatly, so use these as loose guidelines to track your coffee intake daily to avoid going overboard and roasting your health.
